Guild Wars 2

Sonickeyblade.8415:

As someone who just came back to the game and bought HoT… these two announcements worry me.

Raids make games super competitive and Raiders have a stigma of being negative towards casual players, which I am one of.

The Core Game being free… well that might mess with the economy, WvW and EotM (the latter where I spend most of my time) and invite even more gold bots and spammers.

I’ll wait before jumping the gun. Because Anet has to have obviously seen these issues coming and taken precautions against them.

yeah i really dont want raiders in our game. remember when we had to deal with that as/s/hole Ajax Blue? i dont want that ever again.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/a-legendary-journey/

Although it says “With Heart of Thorns” multiple times, there is no mention it won’t ba available to everyone. It does say that they will change how DT/SW work

The Map Bonuses system is a more streamlined experience, and with Heart of Thorns, these maps will be updated to always award currencies through the Map Bonuses system.

It makes sense that non-HOT players will also get this system.

Toxity.2547:

We are getting raids and f2p aids.

Source?

Wildkitten.3872:

mrstealth.6701:

Wildkitten.3872:

It’s still not the regular borderlands.

Desert Borderland is the ‘regular’ borderland once HoT is out, if not sometime before that. It is replacing the existing borderland.

You still don’t say why Anet would abandon a hugely successful buy once, play forever model. Of course you can’t really address that because that alone sinks the entire F2P argument.

They would abandon it if they thought they could make more money from gem sales in a free core game than they would by continuing to sell it. And it’s still not going to be a purely free game, as HoT and future expansions will be sold at a retail price.

The core game is 3 years old, and has already had multiple $10 sales, in addition to being pushed as a bonus/bundled product with HoT pre-orders. Most people that were going to pay to play the core game have done so by now. That market is tapped out. Their focus has shifted onto selling HoT, not marketing the core game.

The kind of raid that the OP want is the kind that exist in WOW. Even in wow, people hate raid and i mean the highest lv, mythic raid. Only a small of % even atempt this, majority dont even give a shiot it exist.

So far, by speculating I think the free core game is a nice move.
First, I’m not sure you can bind different account to the same Phone number, so the risk of people holding tons of accounts is limited. On top of that there may be some people having tens of account for the login reward, but they will be a minority.
The bot risk is higher since they can affect the supply of mats. That said, the valuable things will be in HOT, there will be new mats, new crafts and this will not be touched by free core game.

But on the other hand it is a nice move to keep core regions alive, advertise the game and generate money through gem. I mean let’s be real, if the company could wait 3 years for an expansion and sell the game for 10 € it is because their main source of cash is the BLC.

However I do think the impact on revenue will be much more pronounced on NA than EU. From my experience and some numbers I’ve read in the past, American people tends to give more money for things they like (sometimes they feel a bit forced to do so) which is a very cultural thing. In EU we don’t do that so easily. No judgement, different culture.
Anyway for those saying it is unfair that they have bought the game and now people won’t have to, don’t forget you still have your 3 years worth of loot, money, achievements .. and experience!

Now I’ll see what won’t be accessible for core game at HOT release. It is clear they won’t have free season2 and following ones, nor access to Magumma. For sPvP the only sure locked thing is one hero in SH. I suppose there will be reward tracks that will be HOT-only. Of course they won’t be able to touch any Elite spec. For WvW it is unclear what will be locked for core game since there, maybe some lines. I must admit I fear there may be some risks of destabilizing this game mode in term of population and access… unless maybe they add new world to push the new accounts on those in a first time.
Masteries are also HOT exclusive, Guild Halls are not but maybe Scribe will be. I just hope Pact Tyria masteries won’t be available at least at the beginning.

maddoctor.2738:

It was common knowledge that only 2% of the population did raids in WoW before WotLK. Then it all changed, there was about ~70% (if I recall the number, certainly above 50%) of the WoW population with MoP that had at least achievements from the first couple of raids and the number is just going up with every release. Do those people raid all the time? Can’t tell from the data. Do they love raiding? Maybe not, can’t tell from the data. But fact is, a large percentage of the population actually does/did some raiding, so there is at least some potential there.

That´s a start at least.
So there are no numbers on how many people actually “raid” compared to other people that go into raids once in a blue moon to farm the more easy achievments before going on their merry way. Especially factoring in that in Wow, as far as I am informed, doing a raid content once you have passed the level is just for fun and giggles, people could just waltz into lower level raid areas for the achievements to sit on their desk at home? Like me when I made some Aetherpath achievements early, finally made it through after getting invited late in a party to never go into that path again. Would people like me be a pro or con argument for raids?

We could probably look at around 20% then, depending how people are counted for the pro or con side?

Maraxis.4238:

Bomber.3872:

Wildkitten.3872:

There will not be raids like people think of when you think of WoW or other games. Will never happen. Will there be like possible 8 or 10 person content like we saw in GW1 with Underworld and Fissure of Woe, likely. But it won’t be anything like what people think of when it comes to raiding.

Exactly what I meant^^

@OP: gw2 raids will be likely short (1-2h to complete) with content like dungeons or fractals. Probably 5 – 10 people and focused on casuals with no “hard” or “limiting” content. And THIS WILL BE GREAT!

The things you wrote are more like WoW and only a very small gw2 minority would even want something like that^^ I’m sure anet won’t waste resources just to make 0.1% of WoW hardcore players happy and instead loose like 5% of their paying casuals

Didn’t know you went around asking players. Gw2 would have a HUGE raid community, and many people would return to pay the raids since that’s what gw2 is missing. It would be the end game I’d say over 50% of players would enjoy.

There is no need to go around and ask, it is plain logical thinking.

Gw2 is 3 years old and had no raid content at all. So we can be sure that people that love Hardcore raids like in WoW mostly left long time ago to play raids in other games.

Basically the current gw2 players mostly exist out oft people that like the current content which is infact no raid content^^
So why on earth should anet try to create Hardcore raids which is none of their player-/gamebase? Even more knowing that your hopes (loot, time consumption, failing, hard content) is something a lot of active gw2 players spoke against and whenever even parts were introduced they had been ignored or nerfed? (examples: old fractal lvl80 system, ta aetherpath, liadri, and so on)

PS: Of course most people are propably happy (me included) about some kind of raids, but I’m sure it will not be in the way the op described^^

Edit: sorry for my bad grammar

I can’t say right now if this is a good or a bad change since we don’t even know yet if GW2 gets “only” a permanent free trial or really becomes f2p.

Just one thought: If GW2 becomes f2p, what happens with GW1? Wouldn’t it be a much better idea to make GW1 f2p instead to “revive” the almost empty world? The Gw2 to f2p change would imply that GW1 still has more value to ArenaNet than their newer game oO

Torolan.5816:

Would people like me be a pro or con argument for raids?

Actually in a good raid system companies try to apply to as much of their playerbase as possible. The “myth” of raids being run only by a small minority of hardcore players is just a “myth”. Terrible systems that equate raid content with some hardcore elite fail miserably.

It works like this: the more “hardcore” crowd will finish a raid (or try to) when it is first released. Then, as time passes and guides/builds appear more players finish the content. When the level cap goes up, or new gear tiers are introduced, or both, even more casual players can finish them. In other words, it can well be content for everyone and not be something exclusive to a mere few players. The “hardcores” jump to the next raid so in general don’t rage or care if the casuals get their hard-earned gear much more easily, they have a new carrot to chase. And the more casual players can finish the content on their own time. So basically regardless of your personal skill level you will experience the content at some time, this works very well when said content also has great lore and story that you can’t see otherwise, outside youtube videos. So there IS a way to please both casuals and hardcore players with the same content, it all depends on Anet and if they actually want that or not.

In GW2 we will never have a level cap increase, nor a new gear tier, so they have to find alternate ways of making their content easier with the passage of time. Maybe Masteries could help here or another horizontal progression system? Hopefully we will know for sure on Saturday.

Maraxis.4238:

Hey guys, Probably the only one thinking this. ANET BRING ME THE HxC RAIDS. I want to spend HOURS in one instance and only be a % done with it. I wouldn’t even argue against ilvls for raids, AR is so boring same with fractals. In every dungeon so far there is a corner to stand in and glitch everything. No mechanics just face tank and loot. That’s too boring. Give us something engaging, something to work for, good drops, high gear, get off your crafting fetish it’s getting old.

I have been playing GW since launch in 05, and I know this will most likely ever happen, but raids are what bring people to MMOs, we love hard content not there to baby players. I want something that if I’m not good enough I won’t get it. So many games are catering to the casual players today, but catering to them 100% of the game is driving me nuts. Yes high lvl fractals are difficult. But there are ways around the mechanics. I know “why not just play with people that don’t skip them?” Good luck putting that guild together.

As a speed clearer from GW1 yea.there were faster way to do things and that’s what we did. But it was FUN. there were quests, there were jobs, there were ACTUAL BUILDS. Again it will never happen, but imo breaking the holy trienty is limiting the game as a whole. It’s all about face and tank easy. No talent or buffs NEEDED. Classes need rolls for good raids, HEALER TANK DPS, it’s a part of choosing a class imo.

But with all that being said I love GW amd GW2 and excited to see what they have to bring to the table this weekends.

I think I understand your points and reasoning, but as a casual player, I am hoping they will not put too much emphasis on this “make it as hard as possible” philosophy. That said, I do hope there are raids in the future. GW2 is one of the best games when it comes to grouped content.
What I am trying to say is that the only time a dungeon, fractal or raid feels really hard is first few times you are doing it. Because everything is new and anything can kill you or make your party wipe. As soon as you figure out a way around stuff, you WILL do it. At least in organised groups.
Remember, it is you and your party buddies that deliberately rush through or ignore parts of dungeon or whatnot. Now, I am not saying “go naked” to have better or more challenging experience. But you can do something. Start doing dungeons and fractals with pugs. And I don’t mean “15K+AP, experienced meta zerk” or similar. Do it with “all welcome” groups. You just might realize that all those months and years of skipping content and rushing through dungeons made them unchallenging.

I would like for every type of player to have something fun and challenging to do in GW2. But let’s be honest. Even if they made “it takes one month to finish this raid” it would not be enough. You and your buddies would try to finish it in one month and one second and … then what? You are done with it and now you start to look for ways how to make it faster. And you are in the same situation as now.

Sometimes it’s not what you do, but how you do it. Try changing that and you might find there are different ways of having fun.

Torolan.5816:

So what is it now, are the raiders an overwhelming majority or a tiny minority? Are there any reliable numbers given out by respectable sources?

I can give you this at least from Turbine :
http://www.engadget.com/2014/07/03/turbine-raiders-make-up-the-smallest-player-group-in-lotro/#comments

Also in EQ2 that i played for nearly 5 years on our Server there were mostly
just 1 or 2 guilds that ever managed to finish the hardest raid before the
next expansion came out. It were maybe more in Classic where we hat
much smaller Raid Inis and where it was possible to do them with random
raids.

Ranael.6423:

So far, by speculating I think the free core game is a nice move.
First, I’m not sure you can bind different account to the same Phone number, so the risk of people holding tons of accounts is limited. On top of that there may be some people having tens of account for the login reward, but they will be a minority.
The bot risk is higher since they can affect the supply of mats. That said, the valuable things will be in HOT, there will be new mats, new crafts and this will not be touched by free core game.

You would be surprised, and not in a good way, what people are willing to put themselves through to have their way in general and in games.
Speaking from the prespective of a former eve online veteran player, I can confirm you that there are people virtually(pun intended^^) living in the game on multiple accounts, despite the work this makes with all kinds of scamming, missioning, multiboxing, SoV milking and market manipulation. Some people even never leave station and could buy a middle sized corporation, sell them for a dollar and buy them back without breaking a sweat.

Why would anyone want to bind their phone to a game account?

Will Anet guarantee not to sell all that lovely data to third parties for marketing purposes?

I can’t see people being thrilled with the prospect of a gaming company knowing their mobile number and being able to sell that info on- although no doubt there will be enough people who don’t care to be able to push it through.

If I was looking to sign up on a game and it said I needed to give them my phone number in order to have basic features in game, I’d be moving on.

Didn’t we have to provide a phone number when registering the game, in the first place? I don’t remember anyone commenting on that before the whole SMS thing. If not, I wonder where they got that information in ‘My Account’.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Didn’t we have to provide a phone number when registering the game, in the first place? I don’t remember anyone commenting on that before the whole SMS thing. If not, I wonder where they got that information in ‘My Account’.

Nope. I don’t have a phone number there.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Didn’t we have to provide a phone number when registering the game, in the first place? I don’t remember anyone commenting on that before the whole SMS thing. If not, I wonder where they got that information in ‘My Account’.

I have one there, but only have put it there recently and for no interesting reason. That is bout two weeks ago. before that it was empty. Maybe they do have plans for it, but most of all my first reaction stands.

IGN has often got their hands on leaked info and misinterpertated it. The vid is not proving anything either. So before we panic, lets wait for the official and real announcement (likely tomorrow). If they go this way, they will likely also adress how they will handle potential issues.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Didn’t we have to provide a phone number when registering the game, in the first place?

It was an optional field.

Fortunately, nobody has to connect their number with an account. You can also use the mobile authentificator or the windows authenticator as a new user

Nonetheless, I wonder why ArenaNet doesn’t present their f2p-campaign thing today in order to ease the community.

I assume Guild Wars 2’s raids won’t be like “normal” raids. Further more, I guess they will disappoint the players of conventional mmorpgs like many Gw2 features do. As I know ArenaNet they will be significantly different.

plz block whispers to f2p trials or this will be the new dawn of gold sellers

Maraxis.4238:

but raids are what bring people to MMOs

I specifically left WoW because of raid grind. I’m not against raids in general, but GW2 needs to put their spin on it for it to be fun. Raids the way the used to be are simply not fun anymore. They were fun ten years ago when they were a novel concept.

What I’d like to see are longer than usual dungeons (not ones that take a week to complete, maybe 3 hours), that can be entered with 5 people up to 20 people, with it scaling properly depending on number of players. That would make me happy.

I say 10 for raid is probably the most a game like gw2 should implement. But again that might be too much. This game has lots of bad players to the point sometimes the situation become awkward, within guild for instance. You want to keep it casual friendly, but kitten get real when they can’t get over certain hump, in fractal for instance.
The game is promoted for casual base who doesn’t seem to want to improve or not capable doing so, majority at least. This is one of the reason, beside others, fractal is extremely unpleasant.

Another thing is the game active action combat mechanic cannot cater for pinpoint precision in boss fight. If you are those playing with 200-300+ms ping, you would understand this. Dodging out of an aoe tell doesn’t mean you are actually out of it, hence you’ll still pick up damage. Often, you’ll get downed by boss massive attack on mid dodge (which appears on your end “evade” but not on server). Beside those high ping players, low ping players also experience this when lag spike hit. This is where it can be described as “s——hit happens in gw2”. Bottom line is it’s kinda out of your control no matter how fast you react.

Small raid yes, but not big … 3xwurm alike is stupid and a nightmare to organize.
As for f2p, if it’s the whole vanilla without restriction, no no no, pls God no. I don’t mind a trial with limitation, but that’s not really f2p.

uknortherner.2670:

Toxity.2547:

We are getting raids and f2p aids.

Source?

Trigger happy IGN employee. Links are all over the place.

i been giving this serous thought .and if Anet does bring raids to the game . then what will we get for doing them as rewards ? will it be on same maps as regular map,s or will these raid,s be done on maps like pvp or something ? and keeping it out of the every day maps . but then iam also reminded of silver waste and drop top and to me them feel more kinda like a raid type deal . with them 2 maps just alone so even tho there is questions on the mind with this . we can only wait for the weekend and see what they tell us , also giving how the game has not gone like some of thought it would. but yet we still play no matter what . maybe there is something good that will come from this. and maybe we will not get raids at all . but maybe we will get a few new bosses to kill with some good rewards one can only hope and see what the weekend bring,s

Gosh! OP, why you do this? I thought you had a preview of a raid named “Forbidden Run”. I’m so mad at ya.

Seriously, guys, whatever they do with raids, it will be another option amongst all other stuff you can already do. And, it doesn’t mean they will simply forget about casual stuff EVER. GW2 has been heavily casual-oriented since launch. Seeing hateful posts against raids is simply too selfish behavior, when you already have a plethora of easy stuff to do.

Menadena.7482:

Thanks for spoiling it for us ign. I guess I know who NOT to get my gaming news from now as every game maker now knows you do not know the definition of ‘embargo’.

I hate how people like you pretent you dont look at spoiler feature reveals from That_Shaman….but when ign do it all hell breaks loose

After giving a little bit of an additional thought, I am honestly a little worried for some of my fellow guild members if too hard raids are implemented. Some are over 50 or even pushing 60, no way they can survive in the high octain environment of a brutal raid. And I surely won´t leave them behind, with many younger but probably like minded gamers would follow suit. Indeed a hard nut to crack for Anet, would not want to be them right now.

That quote from LotRo is very interesting. If it is representative, no good will come from implementing raids in general. If you can´t lure people to do a raid that could potentially revolve around the Necromancer or a Balrog, how do you lure in people with a potential snooze like a mad asura scientist?

I assume the raids in gw2 will just be like dungeons, but with more than 5 players. And won’t do anything with ilvls and gear threadmills. Gw2 isn’t that kind of game.

Knighthonor.4061:

Menadena.7482:

Thanks for spoiling it for us ign. I guess I know who NOT to get my gaming news from now as every game maker now knows you do not know the definition of ‘embargo’.

I hate how people like you pretent you dont look at spoiler feature reveals from That_Shaman….but when ign do it all hell breaks loose

I’m actually grateful, because of this huge content drought I hunger for any information regarding new content and it can’t come soon enough.

Couldn’t Queen Gauntlet and Silverwastes be raids if instanced?

I remember they said each boss in QG was scaled for 5 players and could upscale from that point. So the raid could be 30 people, if you want gold it is 6 times 5 good players, else it becomes bronze and every boss is zerged by 30 people. Depending on your rank, different rewards.

In SW, you could also have 30 people, 5 in each fort and the rest for Dolyak runs. Then 6 people for each breach boss and 10 for each lane on VW….

Could those fit raid definition?

ShelBlackblood.7826:

I can’t say right now if this is a good or a bad change since we don’t even know yet if GW2 gets “only” a permanent free trial or really becomes f2p.

Just one thought: If GW2 becomes f2p, what happens with GW1? Wouldn’t it be a much better idea to make GW1 f2p instead to “revive” the almost empty world? The Gw2 to f2p change would imply that GW1 still has more value to ArenaNet than their newer game oO

They want people “in the door” so they buy the full game, and buy from the gem store.

It will probably be lime WoW’s trial accounts. Say max level 20. Can only hold x amount of coin. Has no access to mail or TP, cant whisper. Can only go to EoTM for a taste of WvW/PvP, no daily login rewards. That way people have a taste of the game. But not have access to the higher gear and top end of the market. PvE wise they’ll have 8-9 maps they can play on. Higher zones will just be too difficult to do.

For people that have bought the Collector’s Edition, like myself? i’ve already feel cheated… the personal story is crap, the living story is a bit better than PS but not much better, the combat is way too repetitive and isn’t any fun cuz it’s pretty much press 1 to win, and pvp and wvw is full of hackers and exploiters which turns me completely off on those two game types, the grinding is awful just swinging my sword, bosses and elites spawn and don’t even care that i was there b4 to squash them, and there is no permanence to the choices i’ve made in the game… the game just doesn’t care about our characters, and the npc’s don’t remember me that i saved their dumb city from hordes of enemies and saved their worthless butts countless times.

anyhow enough ranting. Seriously if the Core Game goes F2P, what does this mean for people who have DDE and CE? Will we get special perks, most likely not. is the Zhaitan fight being re-vamped? if so why couldn’t it be like that from the beginning? I doubt that the zhaitan fight will ever change. that ign f2p trailer is most likely a big fat lie. it’s because of trailers like that one that makes people buy mediocre games. this is the age of false advertisement

does it talk about CE and DDE owners?

I’d wait for a red post on this first, or the reveal at PAX. This (with luck) will be a WoW like free account. Where you can only level to a point, are locked out of the games economy, the mail system, basically anything that could damage the games economy or allow players to gain extra wealth through unscrupulous means. Just giving enough of a feel for the game, but with out braking it for people who have payed to play.

Hylox.9746:

does it talk about CE and DDE owners?

There is discussion on all aspects of the tweet yesterday including this

Just thinking out loud as I’ve never played WoW (got bored to hell after 15 mins): what makes a raid “raid”? What exactly is missing from GW2 that this magical word “raid” would solve?

Don’t shoot me just wondering.

I realized something was wrong when Anet started to price its expansion 45€ while giving new players core for free and vets get nothing. All start with greed. You could just price 45€ for core+exp and 20$ for those who have already own game. And now you are going to f2p. I’ve played so many f2p games and all companies milk them like cows, so much greed out there. We will just wait and see official announcement but I don’t have any good thought about it.

Lunacy Solacio.6514:

The amount of gold seller whispers and other bs will escalate… *if true

Then they will disable whispering and zone chat for trials. as well as mailbox and so on.

Randulf.7614:

Hylox.9746:

does it talk about CE and DDE owners?

There is discussion on all aspects of the tweet yesterday including this

That thread is a tangled mess, and most of it is about content, not the free to play aspect. I’m not expecting ANet to say anything on it till a lot later today, if at all. And if we do get a red post on the subject, it will say one of 2 things. This is BS and ing don’t know what they are talking about, or all will be explained at PAX.

Ragnarox.9601:

I realized something was wrong when Anet started to price its expansion 45€ while giving new players core for free and vets get nothing. All start with greed. You could just price 45€ for core+exp and 20$ for those who have already own game. And now you are going to f2p. I’ve played so many f2p games and all companies milk them like cows, so much greed out there. We will just wait and see official announcement but I don’t have any good thought about it.

did you even read it? This is more like a Trial GW2 than F2P :P

@BrotherBelial lol i like the Diablo 3 reference

Hylox.9746:

@BrotherBelial lol i like the Diablo 3 reference

I did?

I’m still wonder what happen with login reward for free account. Some person can make 50 account and make lot of gold from laurels. This would not be good for economy.

Ranael.6423:

Couldn’t Queen Gauntlet and Silverwastes be raids if instanced?

I remember they said each boss in QG was scaled for 5 players and could upscale from that point. So the raid could be 30 people, if you want gold it is 6 times 5 good players, else it becomes bronze and every boss is zerged by 30 people. Depending on your rank, different rewards.

In SW, you could also have 30 people, 5 in each fort and the rest for Dolyak runs. Then 6 people for each breach boss and 10 for each lane on VW….

Could those fit raid definition?

No matter how they gonna pull it off, it won’t be a raid in traditional holy trinity sense mmorpg. The closest in this game i would say Teq and 3xwurm but they just don’t have that awe immersive feel pre, during and after fight. Teq is probably closest. 3xwurm scale is just too big and the separation between bosses, proximity wise, just too far to the point it ruins the immersion. Even worse, in both fight, the lazy n confused could just leech n press 1.

QG didn’t feel like a raid. It just bunch of ppl spread out, smack the bejesus out of bosses. It’s the same with SW.

Killyox.3950:

did you even read it? This is more like a Trial GW2 than F2P :P

that_shaman post is from 2014 for trial weekend…it’s not todays f2p announcement.

Gaab.4257:

Just thinking out loud as I’ve never played WoW (got bored to hell after 15 mins): what makes a raid “raid”? What exactly is missing from GW2 that this magical word “raid” would solve?

Don’t shoot me just wondering.

Instance with higher difficulty, more coordination and increased player cap. Instanced part is optional. That’s short version.

Killyox.3950:

Ragnarox.9601:

I realized something was wrong when Anet started to price its expansion 45€ while giving new players core for free and vets get nothing. All start with greed. You could just price 45€ for core+exp and 20$ for those who have already own game. And now you are going to f2p. I’ve played so many f2p games and all companies milk them like cows, so much greed out there. We will just wait and see official announcement but I don’t have any good thought about it.

did you even read it? This is more like a Trial GW2 than F2P :P

Honnestly if SMS becomes mandatory starting today then I’d say they will be real account. If I would be in the industry I wouldn’t advertise trial account as a “big announcement” either…..
We’ll see tomorrow but from what I’ve said and since Anet tries since always to make things differently from other games I’m quite confident they will be real accounts.

Raids are expected to be much more difficult instanced content than dungeons, but without pushing gear treadmill. It’s a matter of playing the game to its maximum, and making use of every tool you have at your disposal. If it doesn’t touch gear treadmill, I am all for it.

Expecting something 5x harder than a Season 1 Marionette.

The news about new accounts requiring SMS authentication (or another approved authenticator) suggests to me that free-to-play accounts will have no restrictions at all, beyond not being able to play Heart of Thorns stuff until they buy it.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/news/SMS-Restrictions-and-New-Accounts

It’s a relatively weak restriction—a person with a phone could easily register several accounts each using a different form of authentication—but it would prevent the average person from, like Qugi pointed out above, making 50 accounts to buy Heavy Crafting Bags with laurels.

Killyox.3950:

did you even read it? This is more like a Trial GW2 than F2P :P

Sorry, but I don’t think you’re right about that. Unless you’ve somehow seen the actual IGN article that was taken down, I have to assume you’re going off of the datamined info about the free trial, information that is over a year old. It’s not likely that it’s still relevant unless it’s still in the game client now. Remember, people datamined Elementalist sword skills, too, and that didn’t bear out. ArenaNet puts a lot of things in the game client that they don’t actually release.